advanced fuel injection work is summarized.

This report discusses the AC losses in the MICE channelmagnets during magnet charging and discharging. This report talks aboutthe three types of AC losses in the MICE magnets; the hysteretic AC lossin the superconductor, the coupling AC loss in the superconductor and theeddy current AC loss in the magnet mandrel and support structure. AClosses increase the heat load at 4 K. The added heat load increases thetemperature of the second stage of the cooler. In addition, AC losscontributes to the temperature rise between the second stage cold headand the high field point of the magnet, which is usually close to themagnet hot spot. These are the curses of AC loss in the MICE magnet thatcan limit the rate at which the magnet can be charge or discharged. Ifone is willing to allow some of the helium that is around the magnet toboil away during a magnet charge or discharge, AC losses can become ablessing. The boil off helium from the AC losses can be used to cool theupper end of the HTS leads and the surrounding shield. The AC losses arepresented for all three types of MICE magnets. The AC loss temperaturedrops within the coupling magnet are presented as an …

The purpose of this report is to provide status of the ingest software used to process instrument data for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Climate Research Facility (ACRF). The report is divided into 4 sections: (1) for news about ingests currently under development, (2) for current production ingests, (3) for future ingest development plans, and (4) for information on retired ingests. Please note that datastreams beginning in “xxx” indicate cases where ingests run at multiple ACRF sites, which results in a datastream(s) for each location.

An archaeological survey report of the proposed site of the Whites Branch effluent interceptor pipeline and outfall structure in Denton County, Texas, performed to determine whether any historic resources were located on the proposed construction sites.

A report of an archaeological survey of the proposed extension of the Denver Trail roadway.

The Report discusses the internal Security Problems and Progress, U.S. Policy and issues, safety of U.S. Citizens and Investments.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2006, consumers paid over $36 billion in fees associated with checking and savings accounts, raising questions about consumers' awareness of their accounts' terms and conditions. GAO was asked to review (1) trends in the types and amounts of checking and deposit account fees since 2000, (2) how federal banking regulators address such fees in their oversight of depository institutions, and (3) the extent that consumers are able to obtain account terms and conditions and disclosures of fees upon request prior to opening an account. GAO analyzed fee data from private data vendors, publicly available financial data, and information from federal regulators; reviewed federal laws and regulations; and used direct observation techniques at depository institutions nationwide."

This report outlines the financial sector's recovery plans for two kinds of disasters: the inability to conduct transactions and the large losses of asset value.

Under the sponsorship of the U. S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, Siemens Westinghouse has conducted a three-year program to develop an ultra low NOx, fuel flexible catalytic combustor for gas turbine application in IGCC. The program is defined in three phases: Phase 1- Implementation Plan, Phase 2- Validation Testing and Phase 3 – Field Testing. Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the program have been completed. In IGCC power plants, the gas turbine must be capable of operating on syngas as a primary fuel and an available back-up fuel such as natural gas. In this program the Rich Catalytic Lean (RCLTM) technology is being developed as an ultra low NOx combustor. In this concept, ultra low NOx is achieved by stabilizing a lean premix combustion process by using a catalytic reactor to oxidize a portion of the fuel, increasing the temperature of fuel/air mixture prior to the main combustion zone. In Phase 1, the feasibility of the catalytic concept for syngas application has been evaluated and the key technology issues identified. In Phase II the technology necessary for the application of the catalytic concept to IGCC fuels was developed through detailed design and subscale testing. Phase …

Effective overlap of computation and communication is a well understood technique for latency hiding and can yield significant performance gains for applications on high-end computers. In this report, we describe an instrumentation framework developed for message-passing systems to characterize the degree of overlap of communication with computation in the execution of parallel applications. The inability to obtain precise time-stamps for pertinent communication events is a significant problem, and is addressed by generation of minimum and maximum bounds on achieved overlap. The overlap measures can aid application developers and system designers in investigating scalability issues. The approach has been used to instrument two MPI implementations as well as the ARMCI system. The implementation resides entirely within the communication library and thus integrates well with existing approaches that operate outside the library. The utility of the framework is demonstrated by analyzing communication-computation overlap for micro-benchmarks and the NAS benchmarks, and the insights obtained are used to modify the NAS SP benchmark, resulting in improved overlap.

Effective overlap of computation and communication is a well understood technique for latency hiding and can yield significant performance gains for applications on high-end computers. In this report, we describe an instrumentation framework developed for messagepassing systems to characterize the degree of overlap of communication with computation in the execution of parallel applications. The inability to obtain precise time-stamps for pertinent communication events is a significant problem, and is addressed by generation of minimum and maximum bounds on achieved overlap. The overlap measures can aid application developers and system designers in investigating scalability issues. The approach has been used to instrument two MPI implementations as well as the ARMCI system. The implementation resides entirely within the communication library and thus integrates well with existing approaches that operate outside the library. The utility of the framework is demonstrated by analyzing communication-computation overlap for micro-benchmarks and the NAS benchmarks, and the insights obtained are used to modify the NAS SP benchmark, resulting in improved overlap.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, congressional concern and public debate have increased about the nature and growing number of earmarks. This report seeks to provide Congress and the public with an understanding of how agencies respond to congressional funding directions by examining how selected executive branch agencies translate these directions from Congress into governmental activities. There have been numerous calls in and out of Congress for earmark reform in response to concerns about the nature and number of earmarks. Both Houses of Congress have taken steps to increase disclosure requirements. The President has also called for earmark reform. In January 2007, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed agencies to collect and submit data to it on fiscal year 2005 earmarks in appropriations bills and certain authorization bills. GAO collected and analyzed information on four agencies' processes (i.e., the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Civil Works programs). Our objectives were to identify, for these agencies, (1) their processes for identifying and categorizing congressional directives; (2) their processes for tracking, implementing, and reporting on congressional directives; and (3) …

The development of low cost, durable membranes and membranes electrode assemblies (MEAs) remain a critical challenge for the successful introduction of fuel cells into mass markets. It was the goal of the team lead by Arkema, Inc. (formerly Atofina, Inc.) to address these shortages. Thus, this project addresses the following technical barriers from the Fuel Cells section of the Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program Multi-Year Research, Development and Demonstration Plan: (A) Durability (B) Cost Arkema’s approach consisted in using blends of polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) and proprietary sulfonated polyelectrolytes. The strength and originality of Arkema’s approach lies in the decoupling of ion conductivity from the other requirements. Kynar® (Arkema trade name for PVDF) provides an exceptional combination of properties that make it ideally suited for a membrane matrix. In a first phase, Arkema demonstrated the feasibility of the concept with the M31 membrane generation. After MEA optimization, it was shown that the beginning-of-life (BOL) performance of M31 MEAs was essentially on a par with that of PFSA MEAs at 60ºC under fully humidified conditions. On the other hand, long-term durability studies showed a high decay rate of 45µV/h over a 2100 hr. test. Arkema then designed several families of polyelectrolyte …

We report deflagration rates on EDC-37 at high pressures. Experiments are conducted using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory High Pressure Strand Burner (HPSB) apparatus. The HPSB contains a deflagrating sample in a small volume, high pressure chamber. The sample consists of nine, 6.35 mm diameter, 6.35 mm length cylinders stacked on end, with burn wires placed between cylinders. Sample deflagration is limited to the cross-sectional surface of the cylinder by coating the cylindrical surface of the tower with Halthane 88-2 epoxy. Sample deflagration is initiated on one end of the tower by a B/KNO{sub 3} and HNS igniter train. Simultaneous temporal pressure history and burn front time of arrival measurements yield the laminar deflagration rate for a range of pressures and provide insight into deflagration uniformity. These measurements are one indicator of overall thermal explosion violence. Specific details of the experiment and the apparatus can be found in the literature.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Voting is fundamental to our democratic system, and federal law generally requires polling places for federal elections to be accessible to older voters and voters with physical disabilities. Following reports of problems encountered in the close 2000 presidential election with respect to voter registration lists, absentee ballots, ballot counting, and antiquated voting systems, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was enacted. Among other provisions, HAVA includes requirements for the accessibility of voting systems, effective January 1, 2006. In the past, GAO has published several reports on issues related to voting access for older voters. Our prior work, including on-site inspections of a national sample of polling places in election year 2000, a comprehensive review of the election system in 2004, and a review of transportation issues facing seniors, has identified a number of potential barriers to voting for older Americans, as well as accommodations and progress in a number of areas. Drawing from prior work, GAO's testimony will focus on (1) a variety of factors that affect the ability of older voters to travel to polling places, cast their votes in the voting room, or avail …

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This report provides information on the energy savings, costs, and carbon dioxide emissions reductions associated with implementation of a number of technologies and measures applicable to the cement industry. The technologies and measures include both state-of-the-art measures that are currently in use in cement enterprises worldwide as well as advanced measures that are either only in limited use or are near commercialization. This report focuses mainly on retrofit measures using commercially available technologies, but many of these technologies are applicable for new plants as well. Where possible, for each technology or measure, costs and energy savings per tonne of cement produced are estimated and then carbon dioxide emissions reductions are calculated based on the fuels used at the process step to which the technology or measure is applied. The analysis of cement kiln energy-efficiency opportunities is divided into technologies and measures that are applicable to the different stages of production and various kiln types used in China: raw materials (and fuel) preparation; clinker making (applicable to all kilns, rotary kilns only, vertical shaft kilns only); and finish grinding; as well as plant wide measures and product and feedstock changes that will reduce energy consumption for clinker making. Table 1 lists …

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In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program is due, in part, to its ability to task-organize scientific expertise from multiple disciplines in addressing these complex problems Current research projects have focused EBP talent and resources on providing the scientific basis for risk-based standards, risk-based decision making and the accelerated clean-up of widespread environmental hazards. These hazards include trichloroethylene and low-dose ionizing radiation. Work on the trichloroethylene research projects has been slowed as a result of funding …

The Asiatic clam (Corbicula fluminea) has been identified as an indicator species for locating and monitoring contaminated groundwater in the Columbia River. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conducted a field study to explore the use of caged Asiatic clams to monitor contaminated groundwater upwelling in the 300 Area near-shore environment and assess seasonal differences in uranium uptake in relation to seasonal flow regimes of the Columbia River. Additional objectives included examining the potential effects of uranium accumulation on growth, survival, and tissue condition of the clams. This report documents the field conditions and procedures, laboratory procedures, and statistical analyses used in collecting samples and processing the data. Detailed results are presented and illustrated, followed by a discussion comparing uranium concentrations in Asiatic clams collected at the 300 Area and describing the relationship between river discharge, groundwater indicators, and uranium in clams. Growth and survival, histology, and other sources of environmental variation also are discussed.

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Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Capitol Power Plant (CPP), managed by the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), provides heating and cooling for the U.S. Capitol and surrounding facilities. This plant, which provides steam and chilled water year-round for about 16 million square feet of space in 24 facilities, consists of 4 main components--the steam plant, the East Refrigeration Plant, the West Refrigeration Plant, and the administration building. In 2003, CPP awarded a construction contract that involved a major effort both to expand the capacity of the plant to meet the growing heating and cooling needs of the U.S. Capitol and to update plant equipment. The centerpiece of this expansion effort is the West Refrigeration Plant Expansion project, a $100.9 million project scheduled for completion in March 2008. For more than a decade, potential overstaffing at CPP has been a principal concern. In 1996, an AOC engineering consultant for CPP asserted that CPP was overstaffed and recommended reducing staff as a way to deliver CPP services more costeffectively. In 2004, in response to a congressional mandate to assess CPP operations and infrastructure, we recommended that AOC update the consultant's 1996 study and examine …

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